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Monday, March 24, 2014

Common Core and What is Coming

I remember from talking to a teacher in Pittsburgh (where coincidentally, this photo was taken), that she told me her school had a "data room" where any teacher in any class could see how every single student was doing AND look up all the data on them - discipline records, F/RL, etc. This appears to be such a room. She said the door was not locked and any adult could wander in there. Would you want other parents seeing this kind of thing?

I see a pink highlight on most of the students in the red section and fewer in the green or yellow sections but I don't know what it means.

From Seattle Education blog, a great video of a 4th-grade mom in Arkansas who uses her three-minutes before her school Board, to explain her deep unhappiness with Common Core. She even gets the board to interact with her (something you would never see here).

20 comments:

I have a child who has struggled with standardized testing due to a previously undiagnosed visual condition (20/20 vision; something else was wrong).

If I saw one of these, even in a LOCKED room, I would be tempted to bring spray paint and put the word PRIVATE across it in BIG letters. In my view, no teacher other than my child's has a right to that information. My child is not the color red. And my other child who does very well at tests, but is very stressed about them (we're opting out of many due to stress) is more than green.

Criticism of the Common Core is coming from many different political camps. So far it looks like the conservative critics in states like Indiana are going to be more effective at pulling out. It wouldn't surprise me if most red states eventually leave the consortium.

Yes, Common Core has multiple issues for many different people. Hence, the fighting back on many fronts. It's not so much"this must be defeated" as "what the heck is going on and how did it get this far with so little notice."

Mirmac, that might or might not happen at McGilvra, but there was a very similar board in at least one classroom at Loyal Heights a few years back. It wasn't the red/yellow/green, but it did identify which students had passed which math standards (quick recall addition/subtraction etc.). That board was out in the middle of the classroom so every student saw it.

Not related to data walls, but to common core - my fifth grader now brings home math tests with an explanatory page stapled to the front as to what common core standards that unit covered. Then, bizarrely, the test is graded by assigning each problem a numerical score from 1 (below standard) through 4 (above standard) - basically the same system they use on the report cards. There is no overall score on the whole test, nothing to show if all the problems are weighted the same, etc. Now, I can go through and do the math, counting up how many 1s, 2, and 3s she got, and figure out the overall grade, but why do I have to? Also, the grading seems kind of harsh - if you get the right answer, but forget to label it (for example, writing "6" rather than "6 frogs") the grade is reduced from a 3 down to a 2. I understand that one has to label things, especially if dealing with actual units of measure (not just "frogs"), but is that really worth a whole letter grade? I haven't seen this on my other kids tests (1st & 3rd grade) - but I don't need to sign & return their tests either. The cover letter comes signed by both the teachers in her grade. Is anyone else seeing this weird grading system? Suddenly this year she is getting 2s in math on her report card when she's always had 3s, and her Map test scores haven't changed much (generally high 80s/low 90s - not to my mind consistent with a 2 on the report card), so I'm thinking at least part of it due to this odd new grading system.

We are seeing this in middle school as well, but only with some teachers and classes. For 6-8 math, tests questions are categorized into certain standards, and the exceeding standard problems are not expected to be done (! - as opposed to having a test with some hard problems that everyone is expected to attempt). For LA/SS, we're seeing similar standards based grading. They are graded on a strict 1-4 scale, then the teacher translates the number to a percent. There is no in between grade. A 2 is a 75%, a 3 is an 85%, and a 4 is 100%. If you partially exceeded standards, well tough luck, you still get an 85%. It has been very demotivating for my child. Students are given the opportunity to improve grades, but it may mean redoing the entire assignment.

Welcome to Standards Based Grading.

There also seems to be a district wide mandate for teachers to display the particular standard they are covering on a given day. It's posted on the board, or on the lesson. Perhaps the goal is to keep lessons focused on the standards, which seems valuable, yet it would drive me nuts as a teacher. It somehow assumes that teachers wouldn't focus on the standards otherwise.

MSParent, we had a lot of discussion about standards-based grading in my recent class on assessments, and I must admit I'm pretty well opposed to the idea. It begs the question of the atomized nature of student learning, IMO: that in, say, biology, my students have to reach competency on the carbon cycling standard before they can start learning about cellular respiration, and respiration before photosynthesis -- certainly those topics make sense to take in that order, but to impose some hierarchical structure of gates each student must pass through gives me the heebie jeebies.

I also wonder what college admissions officers think about standards-based transcripts; are they simply translated into 2=C, 3=B, and 4=A? If so, why not just do that in the first place? It seems like a hoop to jump through for the sake of hoop-jumping, not for any pedagogical purpose.

Josh, standards-based grading has been around since at least No Child Left Behind. I can't say with any certainty how many high schools have fully implemented standards-based transcripts but I think the number is pretty small.

However, I think you could probably email Phillip Ballinger, the UW admissions director, to ask how they handle non-traditional transcripts, including standards-based transcripts. I have always found Phillip to be fairly responsive and quite helpful. Simply let him know you're in a class on assessments and you're making a research inquiry.

Education Acroynms

Advanced Learning - SPS' three-tier program for advanced learners. Made up of APP, Spectrum and ALOs. (Note: the name of the district program is "Advanced Learning Services and Programs" but these three programs fall under "Highly Capable Services" of AL Services and Programs.

ALO - Advanced Learning Opportunity, the third tier of SPS' Advanced Learning program

AP - Advanced Placement. A national program of college-level classes given in high schools.

APP - Accelerated Progress Program. One of the levels of the Advanced Learning Program. NOTE: the name of this program is now "HIGHLY CAPABLE COHORT." This change occurred in 2014.

ASB - Associated Student Body. High school leadership groups.

AYP - Adequate Yearly Progress. Part of NCLB.

BEX - Building Excellence. SPS' capital renovation/rebuilding program that is funded via the BEX levy. Every 3 years there is the Operations levy and either the BEX or BTA levies as those two levies rotate in six year cycles).

BLT - Building Leadership Team. Staff members at a school who meet regularly to discuss building issues.

BTA - Buildings, Technology, Academics. The major maintenance/other capital fund for SPS. Originally BTA was to cover major maintenance like HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning), roofs, waterlines, etc.) but now covers wide swaths of items like athletic fields, technology and funding academic needs.

CAICEE - Community Advisory Committee for Investing in Educational Excellence. Created by former Superintendent Manhas in 2008, to issue a report about reform recommendations for SPS.

CSIP - Continuous School Improvement Plan, the plan for improvement for each school as required by state law.

EOC - End of Course Assessments, given in math and science, required for high school graduationESEA - Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the federal law that governs education, includes the NCLB accountability provisions.

e-STEM or e-STEAM - STEM or STEAM curriculum with an environmental focus.

FACMAC - Facilities and Capacity Management Advisory Committee. A district committee comprises of an all-volunteer citizen group created in 2012 to help bring research and ideas to capacity management issues in the district.

FERPA - Family Education Rights and Privacy Act. A federal law that protects students' privacy

FRL - Free and reduced lunch.

FTE - Full Time Equivalent

FY - Fiscal Year

Highly Capable Services - NEW name (as of 2014) as umbrella name for these programs: Highly Capable Cohort (formerly APP), Spectrum and ALO (Advanced Learning Opportunities).

HSPE - High School Proficiency Exam, state assessment that replaced the WASL for 10th graders, required for graduation

HQT - Highly Qualified Teacher, a standard set by federal law

IA - Instructional Assistant

IB - International Baccalaureate program. An international program of advanced classes that can either be taken as stand alone or as part of an overall IB program.

IDEA - Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The federal law that governs special education

MAP - Measures of Academic Progress. A computer-based adaptive assessment made by NWEA and originally purchased by the district for use as a district-wide formative assessment but now used for a wide variety of purposes.

MSP - Measurement of Student Progress, the state proficiency assessment that replaced the WASL for students in grades 1-8

MTSS - Multi-Tiered Systems of Support

NCLB - No Child Left Behind, a provision of the federal education law, ESEA, introduced during the George W. Bush administration